


she's a good girl

by 1000_directions



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-06 17:59:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12215997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000_directions/pseuds/1000_directions
Summary: It's Pig's world -- Nick's just living in it.





	she's a good girl

Pig is a good girl, yes she is, oh yes she _is,_ oh she’s such a good Pig Dog, _such_ a good girl Piggy Pig Dog, yes she _is_. Pig knows this because Grimmy tells her so, and Grimmy is her person, and she’s his good Pig Dog, and he’s her good Grimmy Person. He knows how to scritch at her tummy in the best way that makes her leg kick kick kick all by itself, and he knows how she likes to be petted behind her ears and how that’s different from how she likes to be petted by her tail, and he pets her so good. He’s a good Grimmy, and when she’s pleased she grunts at him like a good little Pig Dog.

Grimmy has a lot of friends. Sometimes they come over during the day, and Pig gets to take them on a walk around town and show them all her favourite places and her favourite smells, and they sit down at a table and drink tea and Pig gets to drink water from a bowl on the ground while she pants and relaxes, and Grimmy scritches her behind the ears and says “Good girl, Piggy,” and she thumps her little tail against the pavement so that he knows he is being a good Grimmy.

Sometimes friends come over at night, and Pig lets them sleep in the big bed where she sleeps with Grimmy. The two people sleep at the top of the bed, and Pig sleeps at the bottom, curled up on top of the guest’s feet because Pig is a good hostess and she likes having new feet to smell and keep warm.

Grimmy has lots and lots of friends, because everyone loves Pig’s Grimmy. He has a Pixie and a Gillian and a Daisy and an Aimee and a Henry and a Harry and an Ian and lots more besides that, and whenever they come over to the house, Pig runs up to the door to greet them, and they pet her nicely and tell her she’s a good Pig Dog, and then she lets them come into her house to play with her Grimmy while she sits on the sofa and takes a snooze.

One day, there’s a Louis. Pig knows this because Grimmy tells her about it while he puts bad smells on his body and makes his hair bigger. Pig doesn’t like it when Grimmy doesn’t smell like her, but Grimmy told her to stay back while he gets ready, so she sits on the bed patiently and listens to Grimmy as he fusses in the mirror and makes himself smell bad and look bad because Louis is coming over.

“He’s a friend of Harry’s. You remember Harry, Pig.”

Pig does remember Harry. He smells bad, too, and he talks to her very slowly and seriously. Sometimes she lets him sit on her sofa and watch the telly with her Grimmy, and he pets her for hours and hours while she methodically chews open the seams of whatever toy he’s brought for her to play with.

“Anyway, he’s very fit, and he’s young and funny, and we want him to like us, Pig, so best behaviour when he’s here, okay?”

Pig thumps her tail against the bed. She’s always on her best behaviour, because she’s a good good Pig Dog.

When the door buzzer goes off, Grimmy points one finger at Pig and says very sternly, “Wait here.”

Pig stays on the bed, but she wants to see what’s going on, because someone’s at the door, and it could be a stranger or a friend or another dog or a bird or _anyone_ , and Grimmy needs her there to protect him, and her tail thumps faster against the bed, and she hears Grimmy’s footsteps getting fainter and fainter, and she anxiously digs her front paws into the duvet like she’s running in place, and then she hears Grimmy slide the door open and she can’t help herself anymore, and she takes off like a flash, her nails click-clacking on the hardwood as she lopes through the flat to the door, warily regarding the stranger who has just walked into her home.

He’s a boy person, and when he sees her, he smiles and gets right down on the ground, and she lunges for him, burrowing her head into his lap so that he understands that he is supposed to pet her there first, and he laughs and scritches her behind the ears so good. Her tail thumps and thumps and thumps, and she sniffs around in the boy’s lap and then rubs her face all over his legs so that he smells like her.

“Piggy!” Grimmy is calling, and he sounds cross, but the boy is still laughing and petting her. Pig likes him, and she is being a good hostess on her very best behaviour, just like Grimmy asked, so she doesn’t understand why he’s upset.

“She’s fine, Nick,” the boy is saying.

“Pig, get _off_ of him,” Grimmy says, and Pig still doesn’t understand, but she’s a good Pig Dog, and Grimmy sounds _very_ cross now, so she slips out of the boy’s lap and slinks back, placing her head on her paws and looking up at Grimmy very sadly so that he’ll know he’s not being good.

“She’s friendly,” the boy says, and he brushes his hands over his legs so that his hands will smell like Pig, too, and then he stands up and smiles at Grimmy.

“She’s not usually like that with strangers,” Grimmy says.

“Guess I’m special,” the boy says.

“Oi, don’t get a big head about it just because a dog who eats her own sick wanted to sniff your crotch,” Grimmy says.

That is a very embarrassing thing to say! Grimmy said an embarrassing thing about Pig! Why would Grimmy try to embarrass Pig in front of her new friend? Also, people’s crotches smell good, and they would smell good whether or not Pig ate her own sick that one time when she was very worried about leaving a mess on the floor, and the two aren’t related at all, and Grimmy shouldn’t tell this boy that they are. She whines a little bit to let Grimmy know that he should be nicer to her, but he ignores her, and it’s the new boy who drops down to his knees again and gently strokes her neck.

“Hiya, Pig,” the boy says. “Don’t think we got formally introduced because Nick isn’t a very good host.”

“You can leave if you’re so put out then!”

“But I gather you’re Pig, my little princess,” the boy continues, and Pig thumps her tail against the ground so that the boy will know that he is smart. “I’m Louis, and it’s very nice to meet you.”

Pig considers for a moment, and then she places one of her paws on Louis’ leg.

“Pig!” Grimmy yells. “I’ve been trying to get her to shake hands for months now, and she refuses with me. What are you then, the bloody dog whisperer?”

“Maybe she just loves me best,” Louis says, shaking Pig’s paw very seriously. “Maybe she just has very good taste.”

“Can’t be that good if she’s going all soft for you,” Grimmy grumbles, and Pig barks sharply. She has a very good taste, and she knows this because she spends a lot of time licking at herself. She has the best taste.

Then she feels bad for barking at her Grimmy, because he works hard and smells bad and is standing all by himself, so she scrambles to her feet and runs over to him, weaving in and out of his legs until she’s dizzy. She flops down on her back with her tongue out and her belly up. This usually works. This almost always works.

Grimmy hesitates for a minute, but then he’s crouching down next to her, grumbling about his knees like always. Sometimes he pretends he doesn’t love rubbing her tummy, but he does love it, and Pig loves it, too. A minute later, she feels another hand, and Louis is there right next to her Grimmy, so close that their shoulders are touching. And both of them pet her while she wriggles with joy, and her tail thump thump thumps against the hardwood floor.

Too soon, Grimmy is standing up, saying, “We should get going so we don’t miss the reservation.”

“Might just stay here with Pig,” Louis says, stroking her under her chin while she grunts happily.

Everyone should stay here with Pig! She looks at Grimmy, excited to see if he wants to stay with her, too, but Grimmy doesn’t look pleased. He doesn’t look mad either. He looks like when Pig was a puppy and didn’t want to walk on the leash and didn’t know how to be good yet. She would try so hard to do what Grimmy asked, but the world was so big and loud, so full of good good smells that she wanted to roll around in, full of new people and other dogs and bits of dropped food, and she tried to be good and walk the way Grimmy asked her, but she was still a puppy and didn’t know how to be good yet. And Grimmy would look at her like he didn’t know what to do. He looked sad and defeated. He loved Pig so much, but she was so bad sometimes. It wasn’t what he had expected. He wasn’t mad, he told her later. He was just disappointed.

That’s what Grimmy looks like now, looking down at Louis.

“Alright then, guess I’ll just go myself,” Grimmy says. He does not sound happy at all, and Pig doesn’t want Grimmy to go somewhere by himself. Grimmy _hates_ being by himself, and that’s why he has a Pixie and a Gillian and a Daisy and an Aimee and a Henry and a Harry and an Ian and lots more besides that. That’s why he has Pig. And Pig wants Louis to stay and pet her forever and ever, but not if it makes Grimmy sad.

Louis stops petting her, and then he makes a sound with his face when the air slowly pushes out of his mouth. He rubs his hands on his pants again, making sure he has that good Pig smell everywhere, and then he stands up and smiles at Grimmy.

“Might have to leave Pig here by herself, much as it breaks my heart,” Louis says. “I’ve rather been looking forward to tonight, and I don’t want to muck it up.”

“Oh,” Grimmy says, and he looks pleased now. “Right then. Didn’t know you were so besotted with me, Louis Tomlinson.”

“Don’t get a big head about it,” Louis says with a grin. “I’ve been told I have awful taste.”

“I just need to get Piggy here settled,” Grimmy says. Pig can smell that he’s starting to sweat a little. “Give her one more good scratch and then you go sit down while we finish up.”

“Lovely to meet you, my darling Pig,” Louis says very seriously, and Pig lets him shake her paw again while Grimmy groans.

“Stop showing off, Piggy,” he mutters. He walks through to the kitchen, and Pig trots behind him. They don’t have a kitchen ritual for when he leaves. Pig doesn’t need to be settled before Grimmy goes. Maybe she’s getting a treat. Maybe she’s getting a good treat for being such a good Pig dog!

Grimmy leans against the counter, and his head falls forward. He smells awfully sweaty now, and Pig noses at the backs of his knees.

“What am I doing, Pig?” Grimmy says. “He’s so fit. What is he doing with me?”

Pig won’t stand for this kind of talk, and she barks sharply at Grimmy so that he will know that he’s being very stupid right now. Louis is lovely, but Grimmy is her Grimmy, and he took her home and gave her a nice place to live and a nice big bed to sleep in and a nice big couch to snooze on and good food and nice water and lots of treats, and he takes her for exciting walks, and sometimes she gets to go in a car, and sometimes they go to a big field and run around together with a ball. Grimmy is her Grimmy, and he’s the best one there is. Louis is lucky that Pig is willing to share her Grimmy with him.

After a minute, Grimmy straightens back up. He gives Pig a good scratch right on her belly, and her leg kicks in the air all by itself, and she licks and licks at his hand. He wrinkles his nose at her, but he doesn’t try to stop her.

“Okay, Piggy, we’re going out. You stay here in your bed and watch the house for us.”

And then they’re gone, and Pig is all alone in her flat all by herself. She checks the kitchen floor to see if there are any tasty crumbs to choose from, but part of Grimmy’s preparation for Louis’ visit was a mad cleaning frenzy, so the floor is disappointingly spotless.

Her next stop is the laundry hamper. There’s a lid on it, but sometimes Grimmy’s aim is a little bit off. She’s in luck today, because there is a pair of delicious smelling socks hiding right behind the hamper. She separates them carefully, hiding one under the bed for later enjoyment. Then she takes the other with her, trotting through the house with it proudly dangling from her mouth. Pig gets comfortable on the sofa and chews serenely at her sock until it’s warm and wet and smells like her mouth. And once the sock is all shredded to nothing but strings, she falls asleep.

When Pig hears the car arriving outside, she wakes up immediately and runs to the door and sits politely, tail thumping madly against the floor. This is her waiting-for-Grimmy posture, and she normally just sits like this for a minute or two before Grimmy comes inside and praises her, and then she jumps all over him and licks his fingers and figures out where he’s been and if he’s met any other dogs or had any tasty food while he was out.

But a few minutes pass, and Grimmy doesn’t come inside. She cautiously pads closer to the door, and then she can hear just a little bit of noise outside. The talking is muffled, but she picks out Grimmy’s voice right away, and if she listens very carefully, she can determine that the other speaker is Louis. But they aren’t really talking much, just an “Oh god” here and a “Nick” there in between a lot of very wet noises that don’t sound like words at all.

Pig waits for ages and ages, and she’s sure that Grimmy has forgotten her entirely and won’t ever be coming home again, when he finally says, “I should head in now. Make sure Pig hasn’t wrecked the place.”

Pig would never wreck the place! She intends to be very angry about this later, if she remembers.

“Call me,” Louis says, and there are some more wet noises, and then Grimmy is walking in the door, and Pig jumps all over him, yipping excitedly and licking at his fingertips. His hands taste very sweaty, and he’s smiling.

“Hiya, Pig,” Grimmy says, giving her a good scritch behind her ears. He kicks off his shoes and pads over to the couch in his socked feet. Pig already knows where he’s going, of course, and she runs to meet him there, launching herself at the couch just as he’s sitting down. She rests her head on his thigh, and he pets her and pets her and pets her.

She sniffs at him. He smells like Grimmy, and he smells like sweat, and he still smells a little bit like the bad smell in his hair. And he smells like outside, and like smoke, and like different foods that Pig has never eaten before. And somewhere in there, Louis. Just a little bit, he smells like Louis, too.

“Oh Pig,” he says quietly. “I like him so much. He was so funny and fit, and he was kind, too. I didn’t know he’d be so kind.”

Pig knew he would be kind. She knows these things about people. She knows that a person who gets right down on the floor with her and scritches her good and calls her a princess is kind. Louis is very, very kind.

“I’m so gone for him,” Grimmy says. “Oh Pig, what are we gonna do?”

Pig burrows her head deeper into Grimmy’s lap, and she grunts her happy grunts at him as he strokes her beneath her chin. What they’re going to do, Pig knows, is go to bed soon. And then they’ll wake up tomorrow and go to the park. And Louis will be round again soon, just like all of Grimmy’s other people. He’s here to stay, because Pig has decided to let him be.

Honestly. Grimmy is lucky that Pig is here to take care of him. She’s a good Piggy Pig Dog, yes she is, and she’s only going to share her Grimmy with the best.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr post](http://1000-directions.tumblr.com/post/166713485659/shes-a-good-girl-by-1000directions-nicklouis)


End file.
